


Is it love or...?

by Eydol



Series: Secret Lovers [1]
Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Little bit of angst, M/M, Out of Character, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 09:38:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8528131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eydol/pseuds/Eydol
Summary: Kaoru doesn't know what is happening with him: no matter what he does, he thinks about Souma. To make sure he is straight, he offers Souma to go to the aquarium.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi~  
> This is the first part of a series I plans to write for months now. It's the first one, the one that begins it, but there won't be any timeline after this - because I want to write what I want, without being bothered by a "did they already kiss!?" or something like that every time. (I don't know if I'm explaining clearly but...)

 

            Kaoru Hakaze was straight. That’s what he was telling to every people who could hear, and, if he had to do it, then he would learn sign language to tell everyone. Yes, he was totally straight. There was no way he was bi, or gay, or whatever he could be instead of straight. He was so straight that he loved every girl he met in different manners. Kisses, presents, dates… That was all. No more, no less. They were happy like that, he was happy like that, everyone was happy and it was the most important thing for Kaoru Hakaze’s perfect little world.

            Except that his perfect little world had been shattered a year ago, when the school new year started again. It had been a perfect day, one of this day where he skipped club activities for dates (it hadn’t bothered to inform Kanata, as usual). _Perfect until he had met her._

            She had been in front of the entrance, seeming lost and frail. She had long purple tied hair; the color matched her eyes’, and her face, still a little bit childish, was beautiful. Easy: Kaoru Hakaze had fallen in love from the first look. It had been true love; his heart had been pierced by Cupid’s arrow and he had known she was his soulmate. It couldn’t have been otherwise. That was why he had come closer to her and took her hands as he had always done.

“My little Angel, I think our meeting was planned by Fate~” He had said in a sing-song voice.

            The girl had tilted her head, surprised, and had blinked. And she had been so cute at this moment that he had broken one of his rules: not touching someone without their consent. He had taken her face between his hands and he had kissed her…

            And she had slapped him.

“What are you doing!? Who are you!?”

            At this very moment, Kaoru Hakaze’s perfect little world had been sliced into a lot of piece, because sure, it wasn’t a girl voice but a boy’s and had he really kissed a boy!?

“I should slice your body with this katana of mine! You should be ashamed!”

            Kaoru had blinked twice, not sure of which answer he should have given him back then. All he knew was that after that, the boy had left and Kaoru had promised not to hit on a people without being sure it was a girl (he had already made this promise when he had hit on Nazuna the first time he had met him, though.).

The worst moment had been when the boy had decided to enter the Marine Life Club. He had been surprised – and angry – to see Kaoru in the place and had even threatened him with his katana. If Kanata hadn’t been there, for sure the blond student would be dead now.

Kaoru sighed and closed his eyes, not listening to the teacher. His first meet with Souma had been really lively, and still were any time they were face to face. Because of the situation they always met, Souma finally called him “disgrace”, or even “heathen”. At first, it didn’t bother Kaoru. Why would he care, anyway? Kanzaki was a boy and wasn’t important in Kaoru’s mind. But for some months now, he had taken a strange place in his life and these nicknames bothered him. It hurt him. He wasn’t a disgrace or a heathen. He was just Hakaze Kaoru, a third-year-student who wanted to date girls. Nothing more, nothing less. And it wasn’t a second-year-student who would tell him who he was.

            He opened his eyes and looked through the window. From there, he could see the track field, and his eyes opened wide when he noticed it was the second years. He searched for Souma who was actually talking with Adonis, a water bottle in the hands. He clenched one of his fists. Seeing Souma with Adonis hurt him more than it should. _This is nonsense. Why would I be jealous of Adonis?_ And yet, he was. But that was Souma’s fault. Because of the purple-haired-student, he did strange things.

            Like cancelling dates with girls.

            Or going to the club, or even to the practices.

            Something was really wrong with him, wasn’t it? For Kaoru doing all these things, it should be a terrible problem, right? Of course, he knew why he was doing that. He wanted to be near Souma, to hear his voice and his laugh, to watch him feeding the fishes in the club, to annoy him, to tease him. To touch and kiss him. And it scared him more than everything. After all, he was straight. He couldn’t fall in love with another man. Right? _Nah, it’s just my imagination,_ he tried to convince himself.

            Only his imagination, yes, and it was strong, given all the dreams he had since months now. Of course, Kanzaki had been the subject of all these weird dreams. _Fine. I’ll try something. Maybe my brain is just stupid._ And he had an idea, and he hoped that Souma will accept it.

* * *

 

            Kaoru entered the clubroom with anxiety. He wasn’t sure anymore of what he was doing, especially when he thought that Souma would probably cut his body after that. He went near the tanks, attracting Kanzaki’s look on him. Where was Shinkai? He needed his friend there to be sure Souma wouldn’t try to kill him.

“Souma-kun.”

“Hakaze-dono.”

            Wow, he had the right to the “dono”, today? Good. It meant that Kanzaki was in a good mood (or so he hoped). Maybe he had a chance not to be killed, then.

“Can I ask you something?”

            Souma frowned, but nodded.

“I’ve won two place for the aquarium, do you want to go with me on Saturday?”

            Kanzaki blinked twice in surprise. Kaoru congratulated himself for that, and couldn’t help but think that his clubmate was cute. _As cute as a man can be,_ he added to feel less awkward.

“Why me?”

            “ _Because you’re in my dreams every day and I want to know if it’s love or not”_ probably wasn’t a good answer. So, he opted for another answer:

“Because I know you love the sea~”

“The President loves it too, and I’m sure that one of your girlfriends would like to go with you.”

            The last part of the sentence had been said with so much disdain that for a few seconds, Kaoru thought it was jealousy.

“Well, I don’t want to go with a girl. Besides, Shinkai-kun wants us to get along, right? Going to the aquarium could help us about that.”

            Souma stared at him, still frowning. A few minutes later, he finally answered:

“Fine.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“What about 10am?”

“Fine. And thank you.”

            Kaoru was about to explode because of this! He really accepted!? That was a miracle and the blond wouldn’t lose his chance! For sure, on Saturday, he would know if he was in love or not with a man! (And he really hoped he wasn’t.)

* * *

 

 

            The Aquarium was crowded, something he hadn’t forecasted when he had offered Souma to go there. Why were there so many people anyway? Was there some kind of event? He hadn’t seen any kind of announce when he had bought the tickets (because he clearly didn’t win them, it was only a way to get Souma). Maybe it was only because it was a sunny day? Surely it was, and going to the Aquarium, and by extension, to the beach, was a good idea.

“Hakaze-dono.”

            Kaoru turned towards Souma who had finally arrived. It was strange seeing the purple-haired-underclassman in casual clothes and, miracle!, without his sword. Kaoru was even relieved to see he didn’t have it: he would have less chance to be killed if he got him angry. 

“Ah, Souma-kyun~ Your clothes are pretty~”

“What are you talking about?” Souma frowned, blushing a little bit, and Kaoru slapped himself.

            Souma Kanzaki wasn’t a girl and didn’t need compliments on his clothes. Well, at least he had told the truth: he found Souma’s clothes pretty. Or rather, he found Souma handsome. _Great. It starts really well._ If he started thiking that Souma was handsome in casual clothes, he didn’t want to know what he would think by the end of the day.

“Okay, let’s go!”

            Kanzaki nodded and the two Marine Life clubmates walked towards the Aquarium, showed their tickets and entered the place. The Aquarium was filled with people to the point that Kaoru joked about the fact that there were more people than fishes in the place. Unexpectedly, it made Souma laugh, and what a laugh! _Okay yeah, I love his laugh but it means nothing!_

            They started the tour. They didn’t talk at first. Souma was more interested by the creatures inside the tanks than other things, but it didn’t bother the blond man who could watch him from where he was. The glints in Souma’s eyes, his soft and happy smile, the way he acted around a tank (he looked like a child, a cute child that Kaoru wanted to hug) were really interesting. It was a new face of Souma he saw and he didn’t regret at all this date. _It’s not a date. Not a date at all!_

            The room started being filled with people and, soon, Kaoru wasn’t able to see Souma anymore. Pissed off - it really wasn’t the good day for a tour of the Aquarium - he cleared his way between the people and finally found Souma in front of the jellyfishes.

“Souma, let’s continue.” He stated, taking his hand.

            He cleared a new way for them and left the room. He noticed how soft Souma’s skin was; he hadn’t thought it would have been, especially with this sword of his that he always drew when he was angry. Once in the next room, Kaoru tried to release Souma’s hand; he didn’t want, to be honest, but he was sure his junior wouldn’t like that; yet, the purple-haired-boy didn’t let him doing it. On the contrary, he kept Kaoru’s hand in his. The blond bit his lips and dared to intertwine their fingers: and Souma’s answered it. _Now, it looks like a date…,_ Kaoru thought. And it didn’t bother him; his heart beat faster against his chest, and hand in hand with Souma, he felt good. _Fuck. I can’t say I’m not in love, can I?_ He glanced at Souma; the tips of his ears were red and Kaoru couldn’t help but smile. Cute.

            They finally arrived in the sea turtles’s room and, without letting go of Kaoru’s hand, Souma hurried towards the big tank. There were five turtles in the tank; three of them were smaller - and thus, were males - than the last two.

“Look! It’s the President over there!”

            Kaoru looked at one of the smaller turtle Souma pointed and laughed when he noticed she was between bubbles.

“True~ Puka puka~”

“Puka puka~♪”

            Then, Souma pointed at the second small turtle who was between the two big ones.

“And there, it’s you.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s annoying the females!”

“That’s mean!”

“Only the truth hurts.”

            Kaoru sulked and Souma laughed once again. Okay, this laugh was really beautiful, where did he have to sign to record it? They stayed in front of the turtles for a while; Souma really was in love with them; and continued their visit, hand still in hand. Once they’ve finished it, they arrived in front of the shop.

“Wait for me here.”

            As painful as it was to release Souma’s hand, Kaoru entered the shop, took what he wanted, paid it, and came back near his junior.

“There~ It’s for you.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Can’t I offer you a present?”

            Souma blinked and finally took the big turtle’s plush.

“Ah, it’s soft~”

“Isn’t it?”

“Thank you.”

            The bright smile that Souma’s gave him made his heart stop and Kaoru took Souma’s hand, intertwining their fingers again, and told him they had to talk in private. Then, he forced him to follow him, and brought him on the beach. A few people were already there, even though it was only the morning, some having their feet in the water, other sat on the sand that already was warm. They stopped in a place where nobody was, and Kaoru hoped nobody would pass at a bad timing. He stood in front of Souma, not releasing his hand, and said:

“Souma, let’s go out together!”

“Huh? Isn’t it what we’re doing?” Souma tilted his head, letting his cheek rest on the plush.

“No, I mean, yes, it is. But going out together as…boyfriends.”

            Silence suddenly surrounded them and Kaoru wondered if it had been a good idea to ask Souma like that. After all, it wasn’t because he accepted to walk hand in hand, or blushed, that Souma wanted to be with him. Maybe he thought it was a way of getting along and, if he had to be honest, Kaoru was ready to fight to make Souma accept.

“You… What!?”

            Souma stared at him blankly, seeming lost in thought – or full stop lost. Okay, maybe it hadn’t been the best way to ask him out, especially after all these days they had argued.

“I should slice this body of yours.”

“Fortunately, you didn’t bring your katana today.”

            So he would live till the next Monday. With a lot of luck, Souma would have forgotten everything. _No, wait. I want him to be my boyfriend! It always bothers me that I’m not fully straight but… Aw, crap. I want him._

“Okay.”

“Listen, I know that—Wait, what?”

“I said ‘okay’.”

            It was Kaoru’s turn to stare blankly at Souma. Did he hear well…?

“You’re serious?”

“Do I look like I’m joking?”

            No he didn’t. He was blushing and looking away, with a little pout on his face. Kaoru smiled happily. He couldn’t believe it!

“But I have a condition.”

“Which one?” He asked, worried.

“I don’t want people to know about us. Or rather, I don’t want you to show me to people like you do with girls. I’m not an object!”

            Kaoru sighed of relief. He had thought it would be something more important.

“So, you want us to have a secret relationship?”

“Huh?”

“Acting as usual in front of everyone and being all lovey-dovey behind the scenes? That’s exciting, Souma-kyun~”

            Souma’s blush grew bigger and Kaoru laughed. He didn’t know if it was because of happiness or because of Souma’s expression, but in any case, it made him laugh.

“Don’t make fun of me, disgrace!”

“I don’t make fun of you.” Kaoru answered. “I’m just happy.”

            He patted Souma’s head, still laughing. Kaoru couldn’t wait to obey Kanata and getting along _very well_ with Souma.


End file.
